The Owen Sound Attack will wrap up the first half of the Ontario Hockey League season with a trio of games before the Christmas break, starting with a trip to Barrie to take on the Colts on Thursday, Dec. 14.

Visiting the Barrie Molson Centre for the first time in 2017-18, Owen Sound will look to improve their 14-11-1-3 record (32 points, 4th Midwest) with a win over the Central Division leading Colts, who currently sit at 17-10-2-1 (37 points).

The Colts are having a resurgent season after dropping all six games to the Attack last year.

Buoyed thanks to the play of Ryan Suzuki – the 1st overall pick in the 2017 OHL Priority Selection and younger brother of Attack forward Nick – along with Russian snipers Alexey Lipanov and Andrei Svechnikov, the Colts have made a dramatic climb up the rankings after finishing 2016-17 in last place in the OHL.

While Barrie will be without Lipanov and Svechnikov who are at Team Russia’s World Junior Evaluation Camp, the Attack will also be missing a number of their top players who are also away for international duty.

Polish native Alan Lyszczarczyk is away with Team Poland at the IIHF WJC D1B Tourament in Slovenia where he has seven goals and six assists through four games while Nick Suzuki and Jonah Gadjovich are with Team Canada in St. Catharines attending the World Junior Evaluation Camp.

In the absence of Suzuki, who has 44 points in 26 games on the year, Sean Durzi will be the offence driver for the Attack with 14 goals and 28 assists in 27 contests.

He and Aidan Dudas (33 points in 29 games) will look to help lift Owen Sound to victory in the game that begins at 7:30pm.

Owen Sound will also welcome recently acquired goaltender Olivier Lafreniere to the lineup after he was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa 67’s earlier on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

Following the game against Barrie, which can be listened to live on Kia of Owen Sound/Terry’s Trailer Service Bear Radio on 560 CFOS or watched on Rogers Local 53, the Attack will return home to take on the Kingston Frontenacs on Saturday, Dec. 16 before wrapping up their pre-Christmas schedule on Sunday, Dec. 17.

Team Russia hasn’t called on their eligible players for the World Junior tournament yet, and it may have been the difference in Owen Sound’s 6-4 loss to Barrie on Thursday night.

Andrei Svechnikov, Russian phenom and potential first-overall NHL draft pick next summer, scored a hat-trick and the game-winning goal for the Colts at the Barrie Molson Centre.

The Attack were without top scorers Nick Suzuki, Jonah Gadjovich and Maksim Sushko in Barrie, all off on national team duty, while Kevin Hancock and Zachary Roberts still recover off-ice from an injury.

Daylon Groulx’s game misconduct in the first period put the Attack down another forward. For perspective, Owen Sound iced a powerplay unit featuring three defencemen - Sean Durzi, Brady Lyle and Markus Phillips - throughout the game.

Attack defenceman Cole Cameron has been asked to play at the forward position in recent games, something the Johnstown, Ont., native hasn’t done with any regularity since a desperate bantam coach asked if he could play a little centre ice.

“I enjoy it. It’s a lot of work, you have to go the full length of the ice and track back hard,” he said prior to practice on Wednesday afternoon. “It comes with some rewards, like getting into the offensive zone and getting to go below the goal line.”

Cameron went undrafted following a midget career with the Upper Canada Cyclones. But, following a decorated career at Ridley College where he won back-to-back Midwest Prep Hockey League championships, he was offered a chance to make the Owen Sound Attack out of training camp.

“I wasn’t physically mature enough coming out of midget,” said Cameron. “I believed in myself and knew that I had potential. I just thought I needed some time.”

In Owen Sound Cameron is a long way removed from the quarter-horse farm he grew up on, and the blue line he normally calls home on the ice, but he hasn’t had a problem making himself known to opposing defenders.

“I certainly like to contribute on the forecheck and bang some bodies if I can,” he said. “If I can do that, and make some defenceman’s life miserable on the other team, I’ll wear them down.”

It was the Attack who looked worn down early on in Barrie. The game had the trappings of a blowout as Colts’ captain Justin Murray opened the scoring on a wrist shot in the first period. Then, Svechnikov took advantage of Groulx’s five-minute-major scoring under a minute in to the resulting Barrie powerplay.

The Attack killed off the rest of the major penalty and got on the scoreboard in the second period when Chase Campbell found the back of the net. With the Attack now on the powerplay a point shot from Jacob Friend would even the score just over two minutes later.

Aaron Luchuck, who started the day as a Windsor Spitfire before a trade to the Colts, scored to put Barrie back on top, 3-2. It was the over-age forward’s league-leading 29th goal of the season.

Ethan Szypula would score the equalizer when he banged home a rebound created by Aidan Dudas’ laser of a one-timer. The two teams headed into the third period tied 3-3.

Dudas, with two assists on the night, gave the Attack their first lead of the game with a goal at 4:02 in the third period. It was the third powerplay goal for Owen Sound who are the Ontario Hockey League’s best team with the man-advantage converting at 28.2 per cent clip.

An Attack turnover in front of the net gifted the tying goal to the Barrie’s leading scorer, pre-Luchuk, Lucas Chiodo. Moments later, Svechnikov, Barrie’s first-overall selection in the 2017 OHL import draft, scored his second of the game to put the Colts back on top.

Svechnikov would cap-off his hat-trick and the game with an empty netter with just over a minute remaining in the game.

Mack Guzda stopped 29 of 34 shots while Leo Lazarev got in front of 30 of the Attack’s 34 shots.

Owen Sound now returns home to the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre where they welcome Jason Robertson and the Kingston Frontenacs on Saturday, puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.